About

Who was Martin?

Martin was a character played by Frank Ashmore; often referred to as ‘the nice alien’ or ‘the good alien’ from V. In a story of evil lizard aliens who wanted to steal our water and eat us, Martin represented a dissident alien group who believed what his people were doing was wrong.

This character possessed many admirable qualities. He was honourable, honest and kind. Above all he acted on his conscience.

I suspect his popularity arose from the fact that he embodied how most of us hoped we would react to an atrocity committed within our own society. Apart from his dissension there was nothing extraordinary about the man. Martin did not have super qualities that made him more heroic than his peers. He was cunning and sneaky and his stance was incredibly brave, but he did not display an intelligence or courage which would have elevated him beyond the rest of the population. He was the optimist’s everyman.

Among a certain sub-set of viewers Martin also became an unlikely sex symbol. The fact that Martin was supposed to be a six foot, rodent-eating reptile did nothing to deter admirers. Empirical evidence suggests most of these fans were 12 year old girls and boys (probably more boys than girls if truth be told) and it is probable that this demographic missed the point.

By the end of the second mini-series Ashmore found himself inundated with fan-mail.

So I continued along in the six-hour series when all of a sudden I started getting this tremendous onslaught of mail from fans. I had no idea that my character was having that kind of effect on people.

Frank Ashmore, interview by James Van Hise, SF Movieland, “Everyone’s favorite alien: Frank Ashmore.” June 1985, 30

The overall response to the mini-series was overwhelming. V was one of the most successful mini-series to air on American television. A story about alien lizards may not sound overly intellectual, but this mini-series was literate and painted it’s characters intelligently. People responded to the allegorical aspect. It gave Americans a chance to explore the idea of a totalitarian state emerging on home soil. A key element of the story was the mobilisation of usually docile members of society to fight against the invaders. V also had a fine thread of environmentalism running through it. It very gently posed the question: “What are we doing to our planet?” Viewers enjoyed the combination of thought provoking themes and sci-fi action.

Discussions within the network about the delivery of V as a regular television show started early. Creator Kenneth Johnson originally wanted to make a mini-series every few years. The idea of a weekly series was also tossed about.

“V” was the highest-rated show of the NBC-TV season and, although there was talk of packaging it as a movie for overseas release in Europe, nothing happened. Meanwhile, NBC toyed with the idea of turning it into a weekly, hour-long series. However, that idea was scrapped due to the high production costs that such a program would require.

Starburst, “The Making of V,” November 1984, 75.

V: The Final Battle gave the viewers the conclusion they had wanted and left an opening for the continuation of the story. Despite earlier concerns expressed about costs, the mini-series was picked up by the network as a weekly series.

The Final Battle left a few problems which the new writing team had to address. One of the more pressing issues was the large ensemble cast the writers inherited from the six hour series. Not only was the cast list too bloated for a weekly sci-fi action series, it also contained a number of complex characters who could prove problematic in the long term.

A whole new group of people with new creative energy were brought in. They looked at what they had and saw Donovan, Ham Tyler, Diana, Julie and so on. And then they had this guy Martin who was an alien and an exposed traitor and they really didn’t know how to write for him.

Frank Ashmore, “Everyone’s favorite alien: Frank Ashmore.”

The cutbacks weren’t just a result of an unwieldy cast. The producers also felt they had to strategically get rid of characters to create a more sustainable story arc.

“Martin was obviously an on-going problem for us,” Simmons explains. “If we, as humans, have access to someone who has a lot of information on the aliens, then we get into these murky areas of how much do we know, how much do they know, how much do they know we know, and where do we draw the line?” Feeling that a believable war requires a certain number of secrets on both sides, the producers realized that Martin had to be eliminated, but in an explainable fashion.

Garner Simmons (supervising producer) interviewed by Bill Cotter, Starlog, “V: The Series.” December 1984, 89.

And with that Martin was gone. Martin was killed off by Diana (Jane Badler) in the first episode of the new series. It was a sudden and ignominious death. Martin died trying to do something stupid and gross.

His ‘hang ’em high’ attitude in the first episode of the series, Liberation Day, was hard to swallow when Martin had always been a voice of reason. Admittedly it was tiresome for some viewers to see Martin bring out the old ban-hammer on the Resistance’s latest hare-brained plan but at the same time his steeliness, independent mindedness and pragmatism was what won over a certain section of the audience. But by the time the weekly series rolled around Martin was some weird carbon copy of Mike Donovan, distinguished only by his views on capital punishment.

Liberation Day indicated a new paradigm in V. The producers sent a signal to the audience in the first few episodes that no one was safe. They could not have anticipated the backlash from fans once Martin was killed off. The public reaction to the cut was of a scale and magnitude that would not be seen again until Keri Russell cut her hair in season two of Felicity. Indeed for many Martin’s death was a rude shock.

Oh man…my first childhood trauma! I was like 10 years old or something and I thought Martin was the coolest, most honorable/noble character on the show…I probably needed counseling or something after his death early on in the series!

Dave, Jump the Shark messageboard, http://www.jumptheshark.com/v, retrieved 27 August 2006.

The Yahoo Group FRANK_ASHMORE_FANS expresses similar sentiment as it invites us to join with:

If you liked Martin and cried when he died this group is for you.

Moderator, FRANK ASHMORE FANS messageboard, http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/FRANK_ASHMORE_FANS/, retrieved 27 August 2006

From the time Liberation Day first aired there was a very strong feeling among fans that Martin should not have been killed off. For many his death was a symbol of the sacrifice of the original spirit of V as the series devolved into a camp soap show. Dave (quoted above) resigned himself to the fact that it was probably for the best that Martin did not make it into the series.

Looking back, the script they gave Frank Ashmore for the ‘Liberation Day’ episode was pretty ridiculous, so Martin probably would have become just as shallow and ‘cardboardy’ as the rest of the characters anyway.

Dave, Jump the Shark messageboard

Years later it is regularly referred to as the key moment when V jumped the shark.

I agree with everyone who posted “when Martin died”. Martin was the coolest fifth columnist, and this came as a huge disappointment in THE FIRST EPISODE!

Anonymous, ibid.

 

But the show Vaulted the shark when in the first episode they killed off Martin.

Anonymous, ibid.

Actually, the first big mistake — the one that horrified many loyal “V” fans — was the killing off of Martin.

1K Watts ibid.

After that, however, it started going downhill. First there was the half-alien lizard baby (which actually didn’t bother me), then, in order: hot-air balloons releasing lizard-killing red dust; the Star Child disarming a spaceship with her mind; the death of Martin (and for that matter, all the main and supporting characters they killed every week in order to be “edgy”);

Anonymous, ibid.

Philip: The Resurrection

By the end of 1984 V: The TV Series experienced a series of budgetary reductions and a steady decline in ratings. The plot was loose and scattershot, the writers were still struggling with the large number of characters and some of the actors were getting fidgety. The producers tried to remedy these problems by further cutting back cast numbers, using stock footage and winnowing down the plot to follow the more confined bounds of the mothership.

Desperate to revive the show, the producers began to look to earlier episodes for inspiration. It is rumoured Kenneth Johnson was approached and asked to help rejuvenate The Series and that Johnson, as politely as possible, declined.

In a move to mollify angry fans and to save a show that was flailing in the bath, Frank Ashmore was asked to return to play Martin’s twin brother Philip. Many labelled this as just another cynical attempt to improve V The Series’ pathetic ratings.

This guy was an integral part of the show and only after a monumental showing of letter support did they lamely bring the actor Frank Ashmore back as……Martin’s twin brother Phillip. By this time though, the show was on it’s way out……

Anonymous, Jump the Shark.

The later attempt to bring Frank Ashmore back as “Philip”, Martin’s supposed twin brother, was a joke.

Anonymous, ibid.

Though fans were glad to see Frank again, it was questionable how much his character added to the plot. The addition of Philip may have upped the ante of fey silliness. Everyone needs a straight man and everyone likes to poke fun at authority, even when it represents the greater good. Philip played “Sam the Eagle” to Lydia (June Chadwick) and Diana’s Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.
Ashmore’s scenes with Jane Badler lacked the frisson of their earlier interactions when he played Martin. This was one of the more intriguing relationships in the original series where the usual power and gender roles were reversed. But the underlying toxic sexual tension between the two evaporated when the balance of power tipped more in Ashmore’s character’s favour. Philip and Diana simply wanted to kill each other which was less interesting than the claustrophic symbiotic relationship between Martin and Diana.

A more pleasing reunion was that between Ashmore and Marc Singer who always looked good together on screen. They worked with each other in a complementary way.

When we stood on the set and played out scenes together, each of us had a very clear understanding that what we were promoting were two massive movements in contradiction to each other.

Marc Singer interviewed by Edward Gross, CFQ Spotlite, ” ‘Visiting Hours’TV’s Most Famous Alien Invasion Saga Comes Home To DVD.”, Fall 2004, 1.

Singer and Ashmore understood Kenneth Johnson’s idea of having two people argue opposite points and both being right. Ashmore’s return was also a much needed shot in the arm for the show after the departure of Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside) who previously was a great foil for Singer. (Personally I would have loved to have seen more of Ironside and Ashmore together but not to be.) But sadly not enough. In early 1984 V was cancelled. Frank Ashmore in any reptilian incarnation vanished from our screens as suddenly as he had arrived.

Martin Lives!
Thanks to the advent of fan fiction, Martin lives on in many incarnations on the internet. Frustrated by the ham-fisted attempts to rehabilitate Ashmore’s original character, a number of fans took it upon themselves to try to ‘fix’ the errors of the past.

Almost every fan fiction story written about Martin retroactively undoes his death. How this happens varies depending on the talents of the writer involved. In Sharon Taylor’s V Saga Elizabeth sends Donovan back in time whence he rescues Martin. Truth and Consequences and other works by Mary Ann Boring present an alternate universe where Martin never died. Catlover’s Destiny Pushes Back has Martin fake his own death. Through these wish-fulfilling stories he has become the character that just refuses to die.

Taylor’s V Saga is undeniably the most impressive of the bunch and has been around the longest. Though the time-travel premise seems ridiculous, Taylor has managed to write it in such a way that is credible and mature. (I would argue that it anticipates many tv shows that later dealt with time travel in such a sensitive way: Lost, Fringe and Outlander in particular)

Of all the fan fiction stories I’ve read, V Saga most realistically and thoughtfully deals with Martin’s death. When Donovan goes back in time and sees his friend who has been dead for months, the experience is sickening and upsetting for him. And once Martin learns of his death in a prior timeline he never really psychologically recovers. (Fascinatingly Taylor also writes about Martin suffering from body dysmorphia, and hints he may even suffer anorexia as a result of dressing up as a human for years while on Earth – which for the 1980s was far ahead of its time.)

But over the years I became more and more uncomfortable with fan fiction writers’ needs to resurrect Martin. This macabre impulse of these literary grave-robbers to dig him up has been going on for more than thirty years now. While I really enjoy these works, I think there comes a time in one’s life when we must accept the reality of death. This, intertwined with various attempts to capture the lightning-in-a-bottle that was the original mini-series makes me feel sad. Characters get killed off. Television programmes end.

When Martin Died is dedicated to the idea that Martin is dead. Characters get killed off. Television programmes end. Sometimes things were magic for a time, but that time is over. Sometimes the grown up thing to do is to just let go. Or to make a parody website with lots of innuendoes and camp one-liners, which is what this is. Enjoy.

2006 (some amendments made in 2022)